Dambusters Raid

Operation Chastise

The Möhne dam the day following the attacks.

Date	16–17 May 1943
Location	Eder, Möhne and Sorpe (Röhr) rivers, Germany
Result	British victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Germany

Commanders and leaders

Guy Gibson

Josef Kammhuber

Strength

19 Lancaster bombers

XII. Fliegerkorps
(Defending three dams)

Casualties and losses

8 aircraft shot down,
53 aircrew killed,
3 aircrew taken prisoner.

2 dams breached,
1 dam lightly damaged,
approx. 1,600 killed
(including 1,000+ prisoners and forced labourers, mainly Soviet).

Operation Chastise was an attack on German dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, subsequently publicised as the "Dam Busters", using a specially developed "bouncing bomb" invented and developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee Dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley; the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more were damaged. Factories and mines were also either damaged or destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians drowned: about 600 Germans and 1,000 mainly Soviet forced-labourers. The damage was mitigated by rapid repairs by the Germans, but production did not return to normal until September.

Before the Second World War, the British Air Ministry had identified Germany's heavily industrialised Ruhr Valley, and especially its dams, as important strategic targets: in addition to providing hydro-electric power and pure water for steel-making, they also supplied drinking water and water for the canal transport system. The methods used to attack the dams had been carefully worked out. Calculations indicated that repeated air strikes with large bombs could be effective, but required a degree of accuracy which Bomber Command had been unable to attain in the face of enemy defences.

The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, Assistant Chief Designer at Vickers. Wallis had worked on the Vickers Wellesley and Vickers Wellington bombers. While working on the Vickers Windsor, he had also begun work, with support of the Admiralty, on a bomb designed initially for attacking ships, although dam destruction was soon considered.

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Wikipedia